Current Development Practices Research Articles

Who is the next leader? Understanding women leadership development and succession planning in Saudi Arabian higher educational institutions.

Leadership development and succession planning is a valuable strategy for closing the gender gap and providing an equal chance for males and females to be trained and involved in leadership roles. This strategy is an incredibly effective tool in higher education, where there is a significant disparity between male and female academic leaders. Despite its effectiveness, succession planning remained an overlooked component of the higher education system. Further research studies enhance our understanding of the current state of succession planning and the factors that affect the recruitment and selection of future academic leaders. Hence, this study aims to identify the current women's leadership development and succession planning practices in public and private universities in Saudi Arabia. A qualitative study was conducted in a Saudi Arabian higher education setting. The interest in Saudi Arabia stems from the fact that succession planning is less likely to be practiced since gender discrimination is apparent when assigning leadership positions. Results indicate that top powers typically select leaders since succession planning is absent in Saudi Arabia's higher education institutions. In this circumstance, networking and relationships play a significant role, as these institutions have no formalized succession planning process. In a highly gender-segregated society like Saudi Arabia, women are deprived of expanding their networks and showcasing capabilities to male decision-makers. The results of this study further identified the underlying components of the women's leadership and succession planning process in the Saudi Arabian setting. This study contributes to leadership and succession planning knowledge and its implications, which may extend opportunities for practitioners, consultants, and policymakers to include women in higher education succession planning.

Nutritional Characteristics of Menus in State Prisons.

Nutrition-related health disparities plague prisons in the United States. Unregulated and inadequate prison menus may contribute to noncommunicable chronic health conditions in this vulnerable population. The purpose of this research was to assess nutrition offerings provided by prison menus. Researchers requested the most current version of all master menus and associated nutrition analyses for gendered and age-centric (pediatric vs geriatric) menus. Menu and nutrient data were extracted and entered into a spreadsheet for analysis. Prisons serve gendered or nongendered menus to the general population, and 52.9% of prisons offer nongendered menus where males and females receive the same meals. This approach provides excess calories and saturated fat to females. Sodium was served in excess to both males and females. Fruit and vegetable servings on all gendered menus fell short of recommendations. The average prison menu inappropriately offers calories, sodium, and fruit and vegetable servings in a one-size-fits-all menu development method without considering gender, age, and physical activity. Interpretation and application of Dietary Guidelines for Americans are inconsistent. Nutrition guidelines recommending appropriate nutrients and food groups should be developed and available to corrections systems and dietitians. Current prison menu development practices yield inappropriate nutrition for prison populations.

A systematic literature review on Agile, Cloud, and DevOps integration: Challenges, benefits

Context:In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, integrating DevOps, cloud, and agile methodologies is crucial for meeting software demands. However, this integration remains under-researched. Objective:This study explores the integration of Agile, Cloud, and DevOps in today’s software development landscape. It aims to analyze the challenges and benefits associated with merging these three approaches, focusing on their impact on software testing and the role of mindset in successful implementation and identifying the most suitable Agile methodologies. Methods:This investigation utilizes a Systematic Literature Review(SLR) to enrich comprehension of this integration in current software development practices. Results:The analysis of 31 articles highlights benefits such as improved collaboration and accelerated development, despite challenges with tool proliferation. Platforms like Jenkins, GitLab, Kubernetes, and Docker show promise in addressing these complexities. Our study examines the advantages and challenges of this integration, focusing on its impact on software testing and the role of mindset in successful implementation and identifying the most suitable Agile methodologies. Conclusion:The integration of Agile, DevOps, and Cloud signifies a vital move towards collaborative, scalable, and automated methods, crucial for swift delivery, enhanced quality, and ongoing competitiveness. This unified approach is fundamental for organizational advancement and innovation in the ever-evolving software development realm. Further research should tackle challenges in merging these methods and delve into their interactions with emerging technologies to refine practices for increased efficiency.

The duality of global online labour platforms as restrictive‐expansive sites of workplace learning and skill development

AbstractThe paper analyses global online labour platforms (OLPs) through the lens of the Expansive‐Restrictive Learning Environments framework. The framework articulates a set of structural factors that enable or constrain workplace learning and development. The paper draws on multistakeholder, mixed‐method empirical data to illustrate how OLPs are emerging as learning environments, where new and reconfigured skills, learning practices, and new forms of learning support emerge in response to the radically distributed and fragmented nature of this work. Against portrayals of OLPs as places of deskilling work devoid of learning opportunities, the paper contributes a more nuanced understanding of the duality of OLPs as simultaneously restrictive and expansive. Three dualities of OLPs emerge from the study: (i) their espoused vision restricts organisational support for workforce development, yet stimulates self‐directed learning; (ii) their enacted workplace curriculum is patchy and opaque, yet offers novel structural features supporting learning and development; (iii) workplace learning practices in OLPs are autonomous, yet not atomised. The paper illustrates how structure and individual agency interact in OLPs to create and configure learning opportunities for workers and informs practitioners about the current learning and development features and practices in OLPs.

Accelerating Green Procurement for Construction Project Adoption Through The Enhancement of People Capabilities

Unpredictable weather, global warming, and even air pollution result from human activities that harm the ecosystem, whether we like it or not. Since the publication of the Brundtland Report, the adverse effects on the environment have been the focus of discussion by many parties. The Brundtland report highlighted that the current physical development practices have less emphasis on environmental protection while planning physical growth. Since then, the construction sector has gradually embraced many green practices, such as green procurement. The people capability requirements that are crucial for speeding the adoption of green-oriented procurement will, therefore, be highlighted in this paper. This study uses an exploratory technique to uncover the people's capability criteria for green procurement of a construction project. The identification of the criteria is novel Several focus group discussion sessions were conducted involving stakeholders from various backgrounds who have been involved with green buildings. The results of this study will help the project stakeholders to enhance people capability plans for the project development. The ultimate aim is to ensure all the green project objectives are carried out in line with the urgent need to protect the environment and support government policies.

The Principle of Accountability in Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development: Towards a New Understanding

Abstract Human rights-based approaches to development (HRBADs) have been pointed out as the most accomplished form of integration of human rights in development. Despite the growing talks among development practitioners on the need for human rights-based approaches to development policies and practices, it remains unclear what exactly the human right principle of accountability at the heart of these approaches consists of. This article seeks to unravel some of the difficulties. What does the principle of accountability mean? Who is accountable and to whom? What does it mean for current development practice? Reflecting on these questions, this article critically delves into policy, guidance, operational documents, evaluations, and other analyses by a selected number of bilateral development agencies. This desk-based research is in some cases backed by semi-structured interviews designed to provide a review of the current approaches to applying the principle of accountability. The article sheds light on how the principle of accountability is understood and applied by those agencies, and notes challenges and inconsistencies. It argues that the principle of accountability should be made fit for purpose so as not to become mere political rhetoric without practical meaning in development practice. It is thus contended that development agencies and state donors should move beyond understanding the principle of accountability as one that is grounded in internal accountability mechanisms and systems of evaluation and aim for holding all stakeholders, including themselves, accountable to the rights-holders of their development programmes and projects.

Faculty development for translational simulation: a qualitative study of current practice

BackgroundTranslational simulation is focused directly on healthcare quality, safety, and systems. Effective translational simulation design and delivery may require knowledge and skills in areas like quality improvement and safety science. How translational simulation programs support their faculty to learn these skills is unknown. We aimed to explore current faculty development practices within translational simulation programs, and the rationale for the approaches taken.MethodsWe used a qualitative approach to explore faculty development in translational simulation programs. We conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives who have leadership and/or faculty development responsibilities in these programs and performed a thematic analysis of the data.ResultsSixteen interviews were conducted with translational simulation program leaders from nine countries. We identified three themes in our exploration of translational simulation faculty development practices: (1) diverse content, (2) ‘home-grown’, informal processes, and (3) the influence of organisational context. Collaboration beyond the historical boundaries of the healthcare simulation community was an enabler across themes.ConclusionLeaders in translational simulation programs suggest a diverse array of knowledge and skills are important for translational simulation faculty and report a range of informal and formal approaches to the development of these skills. Many programs are early in the development of their approach to faculty development, and all are powerfully influenced by their context; the program aims, structure, and strategy.

Challenges and Opportunities for In Vitro-In Vivo Extrapolation of Aldehyde Oxidase-Mediated Clearance: Toward a Roadmap for Quantitative Translation.

Underestimation of aldehyde oxidase (AO)-mediated clearance by current in vitro assays leads to uncertainty in human dose projections, thereby reducing the likelihood of success in drug development. In the present study we first evaluated the current drug development practices for AO substrates. Next, the overall predictive performance of in vitro-in vivo extrapolation of unbound hepatic intrinsic clearance (CLint,u) and unbound hepatic intrinsic clearance by AO (CLint,u,AO) was assessed using a comprehensive literature database of in vitro (human cytosol/S9/hepatocytes) and in vivo (intravenous/oral) data collated for 22 AO substrates (total of 100 datapoints from multiple studies). Correction for unbound fraction in the incubation was done by experimental data or in silico predictions. The fraction metabolized by AO (fmAO) determined via in vitro/in vivo approaches was found to be highly variable. The geometric mean fold errors (gmfe) for scaled CLint,u (mL/min/kg) were 10.4 for human hepatocytes, 5.6 for human liver cytosols, and 5.0 for human liver S9, respectively. Application of these gmfe's as empirical scaling factors improved predictions (45%-57% within twofold of observed) compared with no correction (11%-27% within twofold), with the scaling factors qualified by leave-one-out cross-validation. A road map for quantitative translation was then proposed following a critical evaluation on the in vitro and clinical methodology to estimate in vivo fmAO In conclusion, the study provides the most robust system-specific empirical scaling factors to date as a pragmatic approach for the prediction of in vivo CLint,u,AO in the early stages of drug development. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Confidence remains low when predicting in vivo clearance of AO substrates using in vitro systems, leading to de-prioritization of AO substrates from the drug development pipeline to mitigate risk of unexpected and costly in vivo impact. The current study establishes a set of empirical scaling factors as a pragmatic tool to improve predictability of in vivo AO clearance. Developing clinical pharmacology strategies for AO substrates by utilizing mass balance/clinical drug-drug interaction data will help build confidence in fmAO.

Organizing construction logistics outsourcing: a logistics strategy perspective

PurposeThe construction industry shows an increased interest in how to manage logistics within construction projects. Often construction logistics is outsourced to a logistics service provider (LSP). However, construction logistics is normally approached either as a strategic decision or as an operational issue and rarely as a tactical concern. The purpose of this study is to explore how to organize the logistics outsourcing decision at strategic, tactical and operational levels.Design/methodology/approachThis study is performed as a single-case study within a construction corporation, containing (amongst others) a building contractor (BC) and a construction equipment rental company (CERC) offering logistics services.FindingsThe study shows that to procure construction logistics service successfully, BCs need logistics capabilities at strategic and tactical levels to maintain an alignment between the use of logistics services and operational characteristics. Simultaneously, CERC’s need to design their service offerings to correspond to the needs of the BC.Research limitations/implicationsThis study builds on a single-case study of a Swedish construction corporation. Further research is needed to better understand current logistics outsourcing and development practices and how these can be improved to foster better logistics management at the project level.Practical implicationsBCs find suggestions of different logistics organization structures and suitable outsourcing arrangements. CERCs and LSPs can use the findings to understand their customers’ needs and adapt service offerings.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies of how two companies within a corporation can work together to develop construction logistics service offerings.

Age and gender in gerontechnology development : Emphasizing the need for an intersectional approach.

The challenges of the digital divide emerge with new technologies being created to address the needs of the increasing older population. This divide is influenced by the social dimensions of age and gender, often resulting in impaired participation of the affected demographic groups. Gerontechnological designs in which inadequate attention is paid to gender and old age easily run the risk of reproducing gender-specific and age-specific stereotypes. An approach to counteracting the digital exclusion of technology users is the introduction of co-creative methods of participatory design (PD). As there are diverse challenges when putting these methods into practice regarding their claim to be more socially inclusive and democratizing technology development, it is necessary to investigate the effect that age and gender could play when considering PD in gerontechnology. This article aims to shed light on the intersection of age and gender as dimensions of horizontal inequalities in gerontechnology development to support the further development of co-creation practices. The PD approaches can be regarded as suitable methodologies to descript age and gender in technology development as long as they are enhanced by acritical awareness of gendered and ageist patterns in society and technology development. The intersectional approach can contribute to further understanding of how current gerontechnology development practices promote the reinforcement and challenging of dominant discourses on old age and gender.

Successful competence development for retail professionals: investigation of key mechanisms in informal learning

PurposeCompetence development is a prerequisite for successfully meeting existing and future challenges in the retail sector. However, current human resource development practices are often limited in their scope and offerings. This study sets out to investigate and bring to light informal learning among retail professionals.Design/methodology/approachThis research consists of two exploratory studies focused on store managers and procurement officers, respectively. Based on a typology of learning mechanisms, the authors conducted eleven in-depth interviews, generating a rich body of empirical data centred on how informal learning takes place at work.FindingsThe research points out key learning mechanisms for each occupation and offers detailed narratives of how they are embedded in everyday learning. In addition, the findings provide a synthesis of the complex nature of learning mechanisms and their variations in form and orientation.Practical implicationsBy generating tangible and explicit knowledge on the topic of informal learning, the results contribute to both professionals, who may actively engage in useful learning mechanisms, and managers, who may develop processes and structures based on key learning mechanisms.Originality/valueThis paper helps to demystify the tacit and often unnoticed learning that takes place at work. In doing so, it broadens the perspective on competence development and facilitates future discussions of human resource development practices in the retail industry and the research community.

Image-Building and Place Perception of the Subway Station’s Cultural Landscape: A Case Study in Xi’an, China

In the new phase of urbanization in China, the collective cultural landscapes of subway stations in many metropolises are flourishing, providing a powerful way to coordinate urban cultural development and display the image and identity of the city. This study focuses on the image-building cultural landscapes of subway stations. In the theoretical analysis section, it clarifies the construction logic with supporting theory, highlighting the key concepts involved: environmental design, cultural image perception and place perception, and setting out a structural framework of hypotheses concerning the relationships between these three concepts. In the empirical section, six stations in the urban historical center of Xi’an city were selected as the objects, and evaluation indexes of the three variables based on the perspective of the individual were constructed. Using a questionnaire and a combination of factor analysis and structural equation modeling methods, the data from 480 samples were then analyzed. The results were as follows: the cultural image and place perception presented by the environmental design of subway stations are universal to different categories of people; the structural model results showed that environmental design positively affects cultural image perception and place perception; the mediating effect results showed that environmental design affects place perception through cultural image perception. The empirical results confirmed the necessity and rationality of building the image of the cultural landscape of subway stations. Finally, the study makes suggestions for the optimization of current subway landscape development practices. The contribution of this study lies in the construction of a vertical analysis framework from “encoding: construction” to “decoding: perception”, which could provide a reference for the integration of theory and practice for the cultural landscapes of subway stations in Chinese metropolises. However, the innovative definitions and methods used to examine some of the concepts also have a certain subjectivity and therefore require further evidence-based investigation.

The challenges of conducting online inquiry-based learning among tertiary level education

Online learning has become important approach in education nowadays, that requires practical changes at all levels of education. These educational changes can be best noticed through students who have experienced three phases on learning in higher education: Pandemic era-the isolated learning from homes, hybrid learning-home combined with in-class learning, and the recent/traditional phase: all-in-class learning. As such, 159 students/future teachers participated in the study in order to see the differences regarding online learning and their attitudes towards inquiry-based learning (IBL) in English classes. The results reveal that future teachers did not have any previous experience in online learning before Covid-19 and they are not eager to learn online, however, if they have to, then inquiry is their best learning as it triggers their critical thinking and self-paced learning, especially focused in the ‘Exploration Phase’. The study concludes that inquiry-based learning via online is considered very powerful, however, teachers need to effortlessly embrace novice, ‘ad-hoc’ practical educational changes, as these current development practices require pedagogical training practices for online teaching, in line with substantive application of the online teaching tools.

TB-ML-a framework for comparing machine learning approaches to predict drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Machine learning (ML) has shown impressive performance in predicting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from sequence data, including for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. However, current ML development and publication practices make it difficult for researchers and clinicians to use, test or reproduce published models. We packaged a number of published and unpublished ML models for predicting AMR of M.tuberculosis into Docker containers. Similarly, the pipelines required for pre-processing genomic data into the formats required by the models were also packaged into separate containers. By following a minimal container I/O standard, we ensured as much interoperability as possible. We also created a command-line application, TB-ML, which can be used to easily combine pre-processing and prediction containers into complete pipelines ready for predicting resistance from novel, raw data with a single command. As long as there is adherence to this minimal standard for the container interface, containers produced by researchers holding new models can likewise be included in these pipelines, making benchmark comparisons of different models simple and facilitating faster uptake in the clinic. TB-ML contains a simple Docker API written in Python and is available at https://github.com/jodyphelan/tb-ml. Example Docker containers for resistance prediction and corresponding data pre-processing as well as a tutorial on how to create new containers for TB-ML are available at https://tb-ml.github.io/tb-ml-containers/. jody.phelan@lshtm.ac.uk.

Learning to coach: An ecological dynamics perspective

A constraints-led approach (CLA), based on an ecological dynamics rationale for athlete learning and development has been applied to analyses of individual and team sports. To date, such an approach has yet to be applied to the learning of coaches. Here, we propose how applying a CLA in education and professional development programmes can shape emerging behaviours of coaches as they interact with constraints of representative environments to adapt their practice. A core concept within ecological dynamics for coach education is the conceptual differentiation between knowledge of (direct perception) and knowledge about (indirect perception) the environment. Current coach education and development practices focus primarily on the acquisition and transmission of knowledge about, which over-relies on provision of (abstract) verbal and visual augmented corrective information found in manuals. Reconsidering coaches’ behaviours as emerging under constraints provides a coach developer opportunities to identify and manipulate key individual, environmental and task constraints. This approach guides attention to relevant and alternative affordances (opportunities for action) when coaching, and promotes continuous self-regulation of coach learning, supported by an experienced mentor. Learning to coach through a CLA could result in an extensive appreciation of multiple sources of knowledge, resulting in a continuously deepening fit between the coach and their performance environment. An ecological perspective of a coach learning to adapt to the constraints of a performance environment offers an alternative to current formalised coach development practice.

Continuous software security through security prioritisation meetings

Software security needs to be a continuous endeavour in current software development practices. Frequent software updates, paired with an ongoing flow of security breaches, requires software companies to address software security throughout development and post deployment. Prescriptive software security approaches do not match well with agile software development and its emphasis on self-management. Agile approaches are however in favour of meetings as a coordination and problem-solving strategy. This article investigates the role of regular security meetings centred on making security priorities and decisions for achieving continuous software security. Through technical action research and an observational case study, we studied variations of such meetings in three companies. We found that such meetings can reach key stakeholders, make security more visible, and contribute to ongoing security prioritisation. Thus, security meetings are a promising approach, especially for small and medium sized development companies with basic yet immature security competence. Future research should investigate further the role of such meetings and how best to organise them for different contexts and needs. For this we outline implications for research and practice, e.g., related to participants and how to organise the discussions and prioritisations in the meeting.

Integrating cost-effectiveness optimization and robustness analysis for low impact development practices design

Current low impact development (LID) practices may suffer challenge when tackling extraordinarily variable rainfall. New framework was proposed by integrating robustness analysis and cost-effectiveness optimization under various rainfall events. The cost-effectiveness LID schemes were generated by coupling Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) with genetic algorithm. Stochastic rainfall algorithm was proposed for evaluating robustness of each scheme via joint distribution function of daily precipitation and antecedent dry days. The results show that current studies might overestimate nonpoint source pollution (NPS) based on limited events, resulting in less cost-effectiveness LIDs. This new framework, which generated 1087 additional events especially high- and low- frequency ones, extracted robust LIDs among several initial schemes. In addition, heavy rain pattern was suggested as the design criteria to increase robustness of LIDs. Large impervious areas were also suggested as priority area. This study provides guidance for designing LIDs, especially in response to rainfall events with high variability.

Early prediction for merged vs abandoned code changes in modern code reviews

The modern code review process is an integral part of the current software development practice. Considerable effort is given here to inspect code changes, find defects, suggest an improvement, and address the suggestions of the reviewers. In a code review process, usually, several iterations take place where an author submits code changes and a reviewer gives feedback until is happy to accept the change. In around 12% cases, the changes are abandoned, eventually wasting all the efforts. In this research, our objective is to design a tool that can predict whether a code change would be merged or abandoned at an early stage to reduce the waste of efforts of all stakeholders (e.g., program author, reviewer, project management, etc.) involved. The real-world demand for such a tool was formally identified by a study by Fan et al. [1]. We have mined 146,612 code changes from the code reviews of three large and popular open-source software and trained and tested a suite of supervised machine learning classifiers, both shallow and deep learning based. We consider a total of 25 features in each code change during the training and testing of the models. The best performing model named PredCR (Predicting Code Review), a LightGBM-based classifier achieves around 85% AUC score on average and relatively improves the state-of-the-art [1] by 14-23%. In our empirical study on the 146,612 code changes from the three software projects, we find that (1) The new features like reviewer dimensions that are introduced in PredCR are the most informative. (2) Compared to the baseline, PredCR is more effective towards reducing bias against new developers. (3) PredCR uses historical data in the code review repository and as such the performance of PredCR improves as a software system evolves with new and more data.

Approaching sustainable development practices and quality strategies in the Romanian dairy industry

Abstract The Romanian dairy industry has experienced a significant evolution in the last 30 years. Improving product quality is a decisive and important factor for increasing competitiveness in both domestic and foreign markets. The concept of sustainability is increasingly found in the quality policies and objectives set by dairy producers. This paper aims to capture the current sustainable development practices and quality strategies applied by companies in the dairy sector in Romania and how they are perceived by consumers. In order to highlight the opinions and attitudes of Romanians regarding the quality strategies and sustainable development practices that are applied in the dairy sector, the authors conducted a quantitative marketing research among the Romanian population. The sampling method was non-random, and a questionnaire was used to collect the data, which was displayed on a web page (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing). The research revealed that many Romanians have heard of the concept of “sustainable development”, but do not know very well what it refers to. The authors consider that the topic is up to date and that based on the results of this research, companies in the analyzed sector can improve their applied quality strategies and adopt new sustainable development practices in order to improve their products and increase consumer satisfaction.

MAP GENERATION FOR RETRO GAMING ENGINES

Abstract. Current attempts to integrate gaming, geospatial and AEC technologies are driven by increased hardware capabilities and target virtual worlds as close to reality as possible. In this paper we pursue a converse destination and populate low-tech virtual worlds from geospatial data, building and city models, specifically for retro gaming engines in spatial chat tools. We consider an island, a building and a city district scenario and populate these scenarios from OSM, IFC, and CityGML data sources. The derived worlds are targeting use cases in business, educational and recreational settings. Based on a prototypical implementation, we study the feasibility and limitations of good quality retro gaming map generation with automatic means from existing data sets, but also the potential of such worlds for Green IT, accessibility and inspiration of new user groups. We describe the algorithms and processes to generate the maps and outline the concept for a user survey. Beyond that, by discussing map generation techniques from classical gaming in context of and comparison with geospatial and AEC practices, this paper contributes a retrospective of early gaming techniques that might be both entertaining and informative for current development practice.